Around the bracket: Florida stops Nevada comeback; Villanova barely beats St. Mary’s.
DES MOINES, IOWA» Florida was cruising toward a surprisingly easy victory over Nevada in its opening NCAA Tournament game.
Then Nevada furiously tried to stave off the upset with a frantic second-half push that fell just short.
Florida nearly squandered a double-digit lead before finally stopping the comeback and closing out a 70-61 Thursday night victory in the West Region.
“I thought we were just watching the clock and hoping a little bit,” Florida coach Mike White said about Nevada’s late push.
Andrew Nembhard, whose lastsecond shot beat LSU in the Southeastern Conference Tournament last week, drove to the basket for a layup with 1 ½ minutes left and Florida scored the last seven points after the seventh-seeded Wolf Pack had rallied from down 18 to cut the deficit to just two points.
Kevarrius Hayes scored 16 points, Jalen Hudson added 15 and the 10th-seeded Gators won their tournament opener for the third straight year.
Cody Martin scored 23 points and twin brother Caleb Martin had 19 for the Wolf Pack. The two combined for 28 of their team’s 33 points in the second half as Nevada rallied.
“They did a great job of speedBy ing us up,” White said. “They made us play a little faster. Their run was fantastic. They were getting stops, playing with a crazy amount of energy. We did just enough. We were very fortunate to hold on.”
Gonzaga 87, Fairleigh Dickinson
49. One year after
SALT LAKE CITY» dreamers and underdog lovers rejoiced at top-seeded Virginia’s first-of-its-kind, first-round loss, the Gonzaga Bulldogs crushed any thought of a repeat with a wire-towire 87-49 thumping of Fairleigh Dickinson in the West Region.
Rui Hachimura led the Zags with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Gonzaga led by 10 after the first 4:12, by 20 after 10:25 and by the score of 53-17 at halftime.
the time Gonzaga turned it over when Josh Perkins tried flipping a no-look pass backward to Killian Tillie, coach Mark Few looked barely awake, sitting in his chair, cheek cupped in his hand. The Bulldogs led 70-34.
Baylor 78, Syracuse 69.
CITY» Makai Mason SALT LAKE scored 22 points and Baylor set a school NCAA Tournament record with 16 3-pointers.
The ninth-seeded Bears (20-13) found gaps in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, mostly by getting the ball into the high post or driving and kicking out. Florida State 76, Vermont 69. HARTFORD, CONN.» Mfiondu Kabengele had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Florida State held off a barrage of 3-pointers from 13thseeded Vermont.
Terance Mann added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Seminoles, who were tied with the Catamounts at halftime but pulled away late.
Anthony Lamb had 16 points to lead a balanced, long-range attack for Vermont, which lost for the first time in seven games. Three Catamounts finished with 15 points. Michigan 74, Montana 53. DES MOINES, IOWA» Charles Matthews had 22 points and 10 rebounds in his best performance since coming back from injury, and No. 2 seed Michigan put away Montana early.